to plant your feet
3
4.9
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
afirmarse
- When facing a tough decision, it's important to plant your feet and stand by what you believe.
- plant my feet firmly
- plant your feet wide
So one of the things you learn playing tennis is you learn to run to where the ball is and then plant your feet correctly before you swing.
- So one of the things you learn playing tennis is you learn to run to where the ball is and then plant your feet correctly before you swing.
Examples
-
Flora Gershin planted her feet and looked Irma in the eye for the first time in almost a week.
Fiction book (2002) -
Plant your feet.
-
And then I had a teacher be like, hey, man, plant your feet, take the space.
-
My father used to say, "Plant your feet and stand firm."
-
All right, man, plant your feet.
-
All right, I want you to firmly plant your feet right here.
-
Then you need to plant your feet firmly on the ground, with them about shoulder width apart.
Blog text (33) -
Because when Goliath came running, David planted his feet, took aim and waited.
-
She planted her feet, refusing to go farther.
Fiction book (1992) -
Plant your feet, man.
Synonyms
293
3.2
To defend yourself when someone treats you unfairly
25
5.7
To keep your position when others disagree
2
7.9
To keep the same opinion or decision and not change it
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to stand firmly or hold one's ground' follows directly from 'plant' (to fix or embed securely) combined with 'feet' (the parts used for standing): the physical image of planting something makes the metaphor transparent. This is a common, productive mapping (securing + body part) found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will likely be able to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Plant your feet shows a picture of pressing your feet into the ground, as if you could plant them like roots to stay steady. So to plant your feet means 'to stand firmly' or 'to show you are determined'.